Barbara hadn't seen Wendy at the gym since before the holidays. The falling out of their friendship was unavoidable — finding Barbara naked and trussed with leather straps on Ritchie's bed was something a mother doesn't get over very quickly. Wendy had to come to grips with a number of things on that day two months ago — her son was enjoying himself living away from her, he had a thing for older women, he enjoyed having sex with women who were tied up, and her best friend Barb was the woman in question. It was more than a little overwhelming, so Wendy had steered clear of the gym when she thought Barbara would be there.
It wasn't an exact science, though. On more than one occasion Wendy had pulled into the gym parking lot and noticed Barbara's car there. Wendy drove home on those days with mixed feelings, still angry at Barb and still angry at herself for holding a grudge.
The opposite was going on in Barbara's mind. She just wanted everybody to get along, so when she saw Wendy's car at the gym one evening in early January, she veered across the path of an oncoming car and hurried inside, hoping to 'casually' run into Wendy and break the long frozen ice.
"Oh, hi!" Barbara said, when she saw Wendy was just arriving too, putting her things in a locker. "Gosh, you look terrific! Have you been coming a lot?"
Wendy was shocked by the unintended double entendre.
Not as much as you are, with my son!
she wanted to scream. "Yeah, I finally got on a three times a week schedule," she said, trying to sound calm. "Can you really see a difference?"
"Oh, yeah!" Barb said, looking her over. "All that worry about your ass? You can kiss that goodbye! I'll bet Matt's kissin' it hello!"
Wendy laughed. It felt so good she almost cried. She really loved Barb, and had missed her.
"He has been more into things lately. And, as mad as I've been at you, I have to admit it's all because of you."
"It is not."
"It is. Think back. I befriended you because I wanted to be sexy like you."
"Well," Barbara said, "you got it in you naturally. That's all I'm saying."
Barbara opened a locker and put her handbag inside. She opened up the gym bag that she carried with her in the car and started changing her clothes. "So, how mad at me are you?" she asked, avoiding eye contact.
"Honestly? If I didn't sort of love you I would have killed you."
"That bad, huh?" Barbara said, turning her sad, pretty eyes toward Wendy.
"Yup," Wendy said. "But...time marches on, right? It's a new year. I've had a lot of time to think."
"And?"
"Richie's a good kid. You're not dangerous. I kinda hate to say it, but...I feel like he's in good hands. I'm actually kinda glad you're over there sometimes. I have a feeling that house is nothing but wild. I mean, I like the girls, but I feel better knowing you're kind of keeping an eye on things."
"I feel like I need to be honest with you," Barbara said. "I'm not exactly Mother Teresa when I'm over there."
"I know that. I'm pretty sure Mother Teresa didn't like bondage. But, you know what I mean. You're a mother. You're not gonna let it turn into a crack house or something."
"I do know what you mean. I'm glad I'm there too. But honestly, those girls are kind of remarkable. I don't think any one of them has missed a day of work. Brie and Charity love teaching. They're always grading papers or working on something for school. Apart from the nudity and the sex, it's a perfectly normal house."
"We'll talk more later," Wendy said when another woman entered the locker room.
Barbara hugged Wendy. "I feel like a huge weight's been lifted off of me," she said quietly in Wendy's ear.
"Me too," Wendy said. She squeezed Barb tight before the two of them went out to conquer the exercise machines.
An hour later, they were sitting on stools at a high table in the bar of the fancy restaurant across the street, the same table where they'd first gotten to know each other, months ago. An open bottle of Shiraz and two half-full glasses sat on the tabletop.
"That's good wine," Barbara said, after too big of a gulp. "So how often do you visit Ritchie?"
I could ask you the same question
, Wendy said to herself. "At his place? I try and see him once a week, but he comes home to us most of the time. I go out there once every three weeks or so. I always get the feeling I'm interrupting something. The girls are barely dressed, and..."
"You're just interrupting their normal. You know they don't wear clothes, right?"
Wendy sat stone-faced, trying to process what Barb had said.
"You didn't know that?" Barbara asked.
"No. That...makes sense, though, now that I think about it. What they're wearing always looks thrown on. Just the girls, you mean, right?"
"No. All of them."
"You mean...Richie walks around there with no clothes on?"
"Yup. Austin, too. All of 'em."
"I need more wine," Wendy said. She gulped down most of what was in her glass. There was an odd look on her face when she refilled it. She filled Barbara's, too.
"And...when you're there?" Wendy asked. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
Barbara nodded. "Me too."
Wendy was stone-faced again. Her mind was spinning all kinds of directions.
"Barb!" Wendy said quietly, her eyes growing big. "Naked? In front of Austin?"
"Like I said, not Mother Teresa. It sort of snuck up on me. You know Kelsey's family are naturist, right? She sort of...guided me into it. She's got a way about her."
"But...what's that
like
?" Wendy asked. "Was Austin...okay with it?"
"Yeah, he's very mature about it. About a lot of things, really," Barbara said, gulping more wine. "It's odd, Wendy. It's almost like were not mother and son sometimes, and yet the mother/son bond is stronger than ever. Do you remember when you and I went shopping for lingerie and you said Richie saw you in the bathroom the next day in that black see-through lace babydoll you bought, and you said you just stood there and it didn't feel all that strange? It's kind of like that."
"Yeah, but, Barb...everyone
naked
?"
"You and Matt have the house to yourself now. You should try it at home. It's really kind of amazing how good it feels."
"Barb, I don't think I'm understanding. What about the boys? Don't they get...hard?"
Barbara blushed a little and took another big sip of wine. She hadn't expected the conversation to get deep into her new relationship with her son, but she'd backed herself into a corner.
"Sometimes. Wendy, maybe we shouldn't talk about this."
Wendy didn't know what to say. The house was nudist, and the boys walked around with hard-ons? And Barb was there, looking at her own son's boner? That seemed to be what Barb was saying, but it all seemed crazy to Wendy, like she was dreaming it.
"Yeah, maybe...we shouldn't. I mean..."
Barbara seized the moment to get away from the awkwardness. "So," she said, "things are better with Matt?"
Wendy knew just what Barb was getting at. "Oh. Yeah. I don't know why I'm gonna tell you this, the wine's getting to me I guess. After I...found you...in Richie's room...all tied up, I...we...Matt and me, we tried it."
